Improvising Final

Alright! Improvising can be as simple or as complex as you want. There are players that have had enormously successful careers playing only pentatonic scales in one pattern. There are also amazing players that burn up and down the neck playing everything under the sun who are equally successful. 

The point is that it is all up to you. 

What does it mean to you? What sounds do you love over the IV chord? What shapes do you like to feel on the fretboard? The development of your personal style is the ultimate goal. Non-diatonic music is an open playing field.

At this point, you should be increasingly conscious of scale degrees in your playing. 

You obviously are aware of the roots, the 3rds, and the 7ths, as these create our core structure, but what about the 2nds, 4ths, 5ths, and 6ths? The differences in these degrees are what gives us our modes and variations. Now is the time to jump in and wrap your head around all of the choices you have at your fingertips. 

Let’s dive into more complex blues options:

Click on the A7 vamp track.

First, let's start with a minor pentatonic scale. This one is easy. The out of place note is the b3, but it works because of the "blues" sound it creates. This is not news to us.

Second, let's add the b5 and we will get the blues scale. The b5 sounds perfect in passing but not when you hang on it. It really adds to that "blues sound.”

Next, we will try the country blues. This scale adds a more "major" flavor. It is important to realize that while the 6 may sound a bit strange at first, it is very useful in connecting chords. In particular, the 6th degree of the I chord is the major 3rd of the IV chord as well as the major 2nd of the V chord. All of this leads to very clean, crisp, "major" sounds in your soloing.

Ok. Let's analyze what we have so far:

The scale degrees we have tried are 1 2 b3 4 b5 5 6 b7. 

ADDING IT ALL UP - While we can, of course, play whatever we want, we have found that:

All of these notes can work: 1 2 b3 3 4 #4/b5 5 6 b7 7. How you choose to use them is up to your personal taste. But below we have some basic givens:

• The 1 is also the 5th of the IV chord as well as the 4th of the V chord.
• The 2 is also the 6th of the IV chord as well as the 5th of the V chord.
• The b3 is also the b7 of the IV chord as well as the b6 of the V chord (which makes for some dissonance).
• The 3 is also the major 7th of the IV chord (which is why b3 is most commonly played over the IV chord) as well as the 6th of the V chord.
• The 4 is also the root of the IV chord as well as the b7 of the V chord.
• The #4 / b5 is also the b9 of the IV chord as well as the major 7th of the V chord. (major dissonance - use in passing)
• The 5 is also the 2nd of the IV chord as well as the root of the V chord.
• The 6 is also the 3rd of the IV chord as well as the 2nd for the V chord.
• The b7 is also the 4th of the IV chord (causing a suspension along with dissonance depending on the voicing) as well as the b3 of the V chord.
• The 7 is also the b5 of the IV chord ( also to be used in passing) as well as the 3rd of the V chord (to be used when resolving V-I).

Practice playing along with the jam tracks below and really work hard to understand and hear the subtle differences each scale degree colors the chords you are playing over. 

Be diligent in your efforts to begin to free yourself from patterns and to begin to think in terms of scale degrees!

Jam Tracks:

1.  A7 vamp

2.  Blues in A

3.  E7 vamp

4.  Blues in E